Why people do not report Cybercrimes

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What is a Cybercrime ?

The UK Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) defined cybercrime as the use of networked computers, telephones or Internet technology to commit or facilitate the commission of a crime.

There are several terms used to refer to cyber crimes such as computer-related crimes, Internet crime, e-crime, digital crime, high-tech crime, online crime,

e. t. c.

Cybercrime is the greatest threat to every company in the world — Ginni Rommety

Qualitative studies have shown that most cybercrime victims do not report their victimisation and even when they are inclined to do so, they often do not know where to report it. Another research has identified that the police experience difficulty in handling cybercrime as most of them lack the skill and expertise to do so.

Why people do not report:

There are basic reasons which are generally categorized as economic and psychological.

The Economic reasons include:

1. Cost of reporting ( time and effort)
2. Process can be strenuous or studious
3. Many victims may consider the cybercrime they experienced to lack enough seriousness to warrant contacting the authorities

Psychological Reasons include:

1. Feelings of shame or guilt
2. Relationship between the offender and the victim
3. Lack of trust for higher authorities responsible
4. Fear of reprisal (future attack)

Other reasons are:

Lack of knowledge of computers and cyber security. Truth is the extent of a computer user’s cybercrime knowledge is an important factor that influences the cybercrime reporting process. If a user does not know about cybercrime, how will he know if a cybercrime has occurred?

More so, most people will report crimes if it involves money theft or fraud.

Below are two websites for reporting cybercrimes:

1. Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) : The IC3 is an online platform that gives the public the opportunity to report suspected internet crime to the FBI.
2. NgCERT ( The Nigeria Computer Emergency Response Team) : You can report a cybercrime incident or vulnerability as an individual or as a corporate body. The NgCERT also offers proactive, Technology Watch, Intrusion Detection, e. t. c.

Way forward:

1. Awareness - proper ways of educating individuals and society at-large about cybercrimes that exist, how to protect themselves from cyber criminals and what to do when they fall victim.
2. Development of systems that are secure and private for people to report to. Katherine Neville said that “Privacy — like eating and breathing — is one of life’s basic requirements’’.
3. Simple software that are compatible with different kinds of mobile devices should be developed.
4. Training and retraining of cybersecurity Staff in different Agencies. There is a need for an up-to-date equipping of staff with emerging trends. As long as we continue to depend on the internet, we have to get ready for the worse, taking proactive and reactive measures.

Conclusion:

Without proper knowledge of the cybercrimes that exist today, we are more likely left with the significant consequences of cybercriminals being successful and getting away with it.

Hence, for a crime to be considered as cybercrime, the computer, network or digital device must have a central role in the crime either directly or indirectly. Make every to protect your computers or networks from cyber criminals.

Thank you for reading my article!

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